Ebay sales down 40% over the last 6 months....need suggestions of what to do
Hi everyone, and Happy Holidays.
I have been a seller on here 15+ years (mostly car parts with fixes price listings) and it enjoyed it over the years. But over the last 6 months my sales have dropped considerably compared to previous years. I finally did join promoted listings, have been paying the extra fees, and have sold a few items. But I am becoming very discouraged as a whole, and feel I may need to reconsider if this is worth my time anymore. As I have a full time job, a family, and this takes time as well. I did try Customer Support but they didn't seem to have any suggestions to help.
I guess my question is...Is this a problem due to Ebay's new marketing campaign, or are my type items losing interest? Anyone else having this problem?
Any positive advisement would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Mark
duckypms
·10 months agoI been selling on ebay over 25 years, I also buy AND WHAT I SEE going on over the last 10 or so years increasingly getting worst is ebay dropping the ball when it comes to the " 3rd party sellers ". I see it time after time when my purchases on ebay where as somebody list something they don't even own and then when you purchase it from them they go to amazon with your money you paid them and buy the item and as a result the shipping time takes 10 or more days to get to you if your lucky.
Most of these 3rd party sellers show there location within the USA however when checking there feedback the reality shows them in China
AS A RESULT I think people got discouraged by the crap and stopped buying on ebay
ALSO ebay needs to go back to the original format with AUCTIONS, thats what made them what they were and no longer AND don't sell from empty shelves (3rd party crap)
EBAY MOTORS VEHICLE's is over whelmed with 3rd party sellers and all those sellers do is talk themselves up and nothing about the vehicle which your there to buy the vehicle not the seller and shoppers have faded away, my listings (which I list only what I own and 100% feedback score) would have normally over a 1000 hits (views) years past, now as a result, I'm lucky to get a 100 views
It's the new ebay and my thoughts go back how it use to be years ago
sophietrixie
·1 year agoall of this madness with sales slowing down started the very minute EBAY implemented
a new extra 'fee' promoted marketing tool.
Promote your items for an extra 10% and get this. XXXXX XXXXXXX
It was obvious that the new system to those who want to pay get the priority
where as the sellers who didnt want to pay the extra fees were left behind
days after. This included longer waits for postings, impressions, reaches and more.
Things that I would post that I know would go in seconds,
would now take days before anyone even looked, better yet sell.
It has nothing to do with EBAY as a whole not selling.
Its EBAY pushing more priority to those who want to pay extra.
This is really the case. The fees are now becoming astronomical, but on the other hands when EBAY works the way it should, it's really still the best platform.
thebi1724_m0ltlhf
·1 year agoIn my case, it is simply a matter of the low quality of parts I have been receiving lately, the faulty description of the parts, the fit of the parts, it all speaks of POOR QUALITY CONTROL. If I give examples they'll get picked apart as they do, however I personally, am done purchasing auto parts, or motorcycle parts or lawn mower parts or any of those expensive items that must be precisely made and quality checked via eBay.
It sucks to pay so much, then wait for the part to arrive only to find it doesn't fit, or worse yet, it does fit! I've learned that if it does fit, it means you will be replacing it again all too soon as everything seems to be second rate JUNK.
psfhobbies
·1 year agoHang in there... 27 years selling here. Its been hell & heaven over these years. Last 3 years worst we ever had on Ebay in % of daily sales.It will get better with the new people in charge of this country..be patient
baantiques
·1 year agoInteresting development. I tried a 20% sale, except I made it for Thursday AM through Sunday PM/ Sold about $800 or so. Sales dropped off after it ended but I have another that started this morning. So far some good sales. I'm up 30% since last month.
ocean-state-mint
·1 year agoI noticed my sales slowly dropping as well. I took some time to do a few things to get it back on track. This is what I did, maybe you could incorporate some into your business as well. I did my business part time as well until I was laid off, so not I do this full time, but if you can find some time to do some of these things, they will work out eventually.
1. I started by analyzing each one of my listings and looking at what my competitors were offering them at and made adjustments accordingly.
2. I send offers every Thursday and Friday of each week. This not only puts your products in front of people, but it also could add traffic to your store.
3. Utilize the Newsletter in your store. Sending out several a week also increased traffic.
4. Use social media, hook up with other businesses and cross promote.
5. Use the sale promotion and pick 10-15 products weekly, incorporate the sale with your newsletter.
6. Offer a coupon to buyers only. Such as percentage off next purchase or $ amount off certain amount.
7. Auctions-They bring an incredible amount of traffic to your listing and eventually your store. Even if you break even on a few, it's a goof way to increase your footprint.
Hope some of these can help you! Good Luck!
m.goodson
OP1 year agoThanks very much for the suggestions.
I have recently started and audit, and sold some existing items by modifying them (without promotions). As some my ads are stale, outdated, or need more description/keywords.
I agree that I need to get some atttention one way or the other, lol!
Thanks again,
Mark
m.goodson
OP1 year agoI am learning from many replies that I need to apparently expand into other platforms.
I would like to ask everyone, when sellers say the have their own website, what platforms are they using?
In researching, I see some still want extra money to advertise the items.
baantiques
·1 year agoI use Shopify. It's mainly just a holding point for products. I sell most everything on Ebay although maybe 5% comes from the actual store. Non parts items go on Etsy. I have third party synch software that lists and keeps track of inventory among all the platforms.
samsmoke
·1 year agoGood luck m.goodson. I think ebay policies have overtime caused people to stop visiting. I know I now rarely come to ebay after policies they have introduced over the past 10 years.
I was a casual seller on ebay but threw in the towel when they made me pay for return shipping for an item the buyer lied about being defective. They then removed paypal as an option to receive payment followed by requiring me to give them my drivers license. Well, I don't trust them to not eventually get hacked. I come back every so often to find out if it's any better but it never is.
I've tried facebook marketplace over the past few months but so far it seems marketplace buyers want everything at yard sale prices. It could be that I only list items as local pickup only.
williwiljane
·1 year agoI've been selling cloths for over 3 years
They used to fly out especially my dungarees ,,,, the last 6 months have been dismal no views no watchers (awful)
It's since ebay brought in free selling fees
I have given up
modifiedexperience
·1 year agoIm a NOS part seller ( have 3 accounts on ebay ) and lately sale have been rough, almost to the point of not being worth it as i have over $500k in parts in my warehouse.
Issue is plain and simple: people are not finding your parts because the market is saturated with chinese junk.
You can put OEM/Genuine/Original and ebay will still show you some Depo nonsense.
What I do now is I group my parts by make/model and join that FB group/forum and sell it on there.
redlinear
·1 year agoThat's another 1/5th of the problem.
But, I can't stand to deal with the FB crowd. I just can't do it. LOL
modifiedexperience
·1 year agoYea the " is it available " and nonreply gets old real quick, but i've done good innthe crown victoria group. A reseller bought my entire catalog
m.goodson
OP1 year agoYes, Facebook definitely needs to get rid of or move that "is it still available" button. It is just too easy for bored people to hit it at 2 a.m.,lol. I am going to look into the groups thing though.
autosol15
·1 year agoWelcome to the auto parts industry. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to why things go the way they do that I've been able to find, and I've been in the industry for over 20 years. My busy months are March and April. October through January being my slowest....that's the only "trend" I've been able to come up with. I'm pretty specialized in what I sell...and there are still times when I'll move 3-4/day of one part number for several months straight, and then not a single sale of that part number for 6 months, while others seemingly take it's place as the "hot" one of the day.
I checked out your listings and you have a pretty wide range of everything...so your sales are all by chance. The only solution is to create more listings and cross your fingers.
Direct marketing to website forums / having your own website can certainly help too, but without a return customer base (for fast moving parts you constantly keep in stock), it's all about exposure to the right person at the right time.
m.goodson
OP1 year agoYes, I do have quit the mix of parts, making it hard to find followers. I started out as Ford parts, but when I started sharing revenue with the IRS too, it became whatever I could find the best deal on to make a profit.
Certain months are trendy for sure. But with final numbers now in for last year, I am seeing another trend that doesn't look very good. As it was my lowest year ever.
But I haven't given up yet, as hearing from other sellers has seemed to give me some hope.
Thanks,
Mark
liawri-75
·1 year agoCar parts? Hmmm.....Guesses:
- there's a lot of DIY mechanics.
-People are holding onto their cars longer and running them into the ground practically.
-The older models hold up better than the new ones?
-the newer cars don't need as many parts?
You seem to be selling older vintage parts. That may be why?
redlinear
·1 year agoVintage 60's to 80's stuff is awesome. Albeit difficult to take apart due to rusted bolts.
I'm pretty sure, no matter what the "junker", there's somebody out there trying to restore it.
Usually quite a few somebody's.
Old is an easier selling game than Recent. But much more difficult to source and process.
force_of_iron
·1 year agoWell I can speak to your situation but I buy mainly antique books. They have eliminated my search perameters and now cant seperate newly listed items for the old. I will not look though the same books day after day (16000+ listed at any given time) I havent bought hardly a thing in a couple months
wood-n-bikes
·1 year agoIt's a sinking ship and eBay has no one to blame but themselves. Classic case of "If it ain't broke don't fix it"
They have some really retahded people on the payroll that's for sure.
They have been making it worse and worse every year.
I can't even ship international anymore because these idiots are letting people get free shipping and apparently I'm no longer worthy of the shipping hub....
totally_rad_movies
·1 year agoI noticed the same thing on my store during those months. I believe this issue is that eBay is trying to copy the money grab strategies of the biggest online retailer with its promoted listings. If you are not playing ball by advertising your items and letting eBay take a larger percentage of your cut then they will make it harder for you listings to be shown.
redlinear
·1 year agoYou are correct.
That's about 1/5th of the problem.
fbusoni
·1 year ago@totally_rad_movies
Yes, promoted listings (software that you purchase from the cloud) allow eBay to maintain a steady revenue stream without having to raise fees for all eBay sellers. And eBay has a captive audience, what with the "fear of missing out" (to which I, at age 65, am, thankfully, wholly inoculated) so prevalent these days.
The part I've bolded in blue above seems to be the conventional wisdom.
But I assure you that it is NOT a universal truth.
As a few experienced sellers on these forums have made clear with evidence, once a seller starts down the PL rabbit hole, it may -- depending on what they are selling -- be very, very difficult to extricate oneself from a dependency on the software without incurring significant financial loss.
Even tweaking your listings -- removing some from PLs -- can produce very unsatisfactory results across the board.
However, there are definitely ways of getting ones' listings promoted on eBay without having to "pay" anything extra. All that is required is top tier customer service -- in my personal experience that has meant same day shipping and paid 60 day returns.
For me, the results have been quite impressive over a prolonged period of time.
But I should hasten to add that I sell old, boring things that are no longer manufactured and which are no longer of general interest.
Long story short, there are hundreds of variables at play on this platform, and all of them are hidden from view. regards
redlinear
·1 year ago@m.goodson @blacktopautoparts
My employee walked in with a big grin on his face while ago. He sold a crankshaft that he listed three days ago. For.....$100 MORE than a few other identical crankshafts that he had found on eBay.
Our "jokingly" theory: It was just his turn
Price, when reasonable, doesn't seem to matter. Being seen is what matters.
It's like a Google search.
Not many shoppers are going past that 1st page
Not many shoppers are going very far down that list of un-related things.
We run hundreds of searches, sorts, filters every day when Listing parts. Trying to figure out where our Price needs to be. We spend as much time looking at Sold Items as we do current listings. This gives us a better understanding of how to Price AND what parts might be in more demand.
It's crazy. There is NO shortage of Sold Items, yet the prices of what's sold are all over the place.
Buyers are not finding the "deals", they are simply buying what they find and "thinking" it's the best deal.
That Cheap seller that has 15 quantity, 435986 Casting Number crankshafts? He should be all over that sold page. But he's not. He is there with one sale, along with 8 other different sellers and prices are all over the place.
Quite a few reasons for this, much of which being eBay manipulating the search results.
Seems the best way to combat this is to keep your listings fresh.
Gone are the days of listing parts, considering them done, and moving on to the next part.
The new method is to list a part, then every few weeks go back and spend more time on that listing somehow. (end it, restart it, adjust the price, just click on it and open and close it a few times, lower the price, raise the price, promote it, change up some item specifics, send offers, create sales).
You know, a complete waste of time, labor, and money on something that should already be done.
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoAs we've spoken on the phone and through messages, it is amazing how a lot of this works. People are not searching as much on eBay as we are led to believe. All research shows is that customer do come through the door of Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
It is funny that you mention about going back to a listing a few weeks or even months later, and ending/sell similar with some changes to it and then it does something to the algorithm where items in that category in our stores sell. A good example of that is with our headrests. Those are slow movers, but as soon as we were making these kind of changes to many of them the last few weeks, I had days where we were selling a few a day. Like you said and even eBay reps have said, this is a total waste of peoples time.
selsa84
·1 year agoWhen I can't find it on eBay I'll Google it and find it on eBay. That should tell you that search is pretty bad on ebay
redlinear
·1 year ago@blacktopautoparts @m.goodson
And as much as I hate to agree with @inhawaii (LOL, just kidding).
There is something to selling what people want, even with used auto parts.
Although, used auto parts is Mostly NEED instead of WANT.
And when Needed, it wasn't Needed the day before.
But I know all too well, many vehicles are flat out Duds when it comes to selling their parts.
And it's not easy to pick and choose if sourcing "used parts" instead of whole cars.
When I source "used parts", I have to buy everything on a shelf, or everything in a warehouse. Pick and Choose is never an option.
So ya take the good with the bad and go from there. Usually not knowing what's good or bad until after it's listed.
Used Car Parts are just different than most other used items.
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoI don't fully disagree with hawaii, but I don't always like that excuse over and over again. It has become the most commonly used one around here and it is a circle of people as we know that keep using it. It has turned into a copy and paste meme around here.
I do agree with hawaii that if you are selling any item that people do not want, it will not sell and will take years to move that item. You are better off taking those items and either try to move them at a deep discount, which I have seen not always work or just toss them out since even bulking them out sometimes doesn't work either. That way you can make room for some fresh new inventory. I know that I have some things that are duds in my inventory, just as much as you do, but we also have way more desirable items than duds.
The best approach at this point as you have noted is parting out cars over buying in bulk. At least with parting out a vehicle there are items like engines, trans, motors, etc. that can pay 5x of the initial purchase if not more over buying bulk. With bulk you might get a handful of very good items and then you get a mixture of good and bad making it harder to move the bad.
redlinear
·1 year agoI bought a warehouse full of used parts, already off, I list those.
Employee takes a car apart and lists those parts.
He can list 300 parts in the time it takes me to list 100.
I'll not buy loose inventory like that every again..LOL
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoI had done the same thing about 2 years ago, had bought 12,000 loose parts from a friend that was shutting down his business. It was a bit of a nightmare getting everything listed even though I had contracted out to a developer to build out a program to make things a bit easier for us. The problem also when buying someone elses inventory is that you also get some of their junk items even if you paid a good price for the whole thing.
baantiques
·1 year agoToss it my way. I love that stuff.
I've worked out a system for dealing with it. Buy it cheap, sort quick, and don't be afraid to toss parts in the dumpster.
m.goodson
OP1 year agoYes, I have no doubt much of my issue comes from me buying these large dealership lots several years ago. I sold the best 25% parts of the parts right off the top. Now I'm left with everything else. Just hard to want to haul 2,000-3,000 NOS parts to the dump (40 bread flats of small items, 100 clutches, 40 master cylinders, 60 water pumps, fuel pumps, brake pads, carburetor kits, and gasket sets to the dump. With most of them never being listed.
It is a constant job to sort, evaluate to sell or purge, and don't look back. Compiling bulk lots to resell seem more trouble than it is worth easier to toss. It is a time consuming process, but part of the irony of buying bulk. As it sometimes yields nice surprises.
But at the end of the day, if parts are passed their useful life or the market is flooded by a super seller/liquidator, they aren't worth the time. As some of my items have sat in the store for years before being sold.
I have resorted to hand picking many of my newer items for resale in lieu of buying in bulk, and not adding to my backlog.
And yes...I have found items that many don't show up in Ebay search results, but do show in Google searches, and point me to the Ebay ad.
Again, I thank you guys for all the suggestions. I am taking notes, pondering my options, and already making changes to try and keeping up in an evolving market.
Thanks,
Mark
fbusoni
·1 year ago@m.goodson
Thank you for closing the loop and explaining how you came into possession of all these parts.
I hope that you were able to recoup your entire investment when you sold the first 25%.
Now, this is just a random idea on my part, but have you considered getting in touch with some Facebook specialty automotive groups? I'd bet that there are still a few million Americans who are interested in carburetor kits. And I'm certain that there are FB groups out there where you can find new homes for your other NOS parts. At a minimum, you might be able to get folks to haul away the part for you.
FWIW, I bought thousands of brand new LPs many years ago... sold the most desirable ones quickly, and now have about a few thousand or so that I need to dispose of. I have found several people on FB who are willing to come over and take the LPs off my hands so I do not have to go through the trouble of trashing them. regards
m.goodson
OP1 year agoYes, I have done well with some of my bulk purchases. My first bulk purchase 10+ years ago yielded me recouping my full $1500 investment with selling 3 items, plus making me an additional revenue of 10x that within half a year, and it still continued. Consequently I still have some of those items leftover too, lol.
Due to storage limitations and have always been a skeptical bulk buyer. But some of my best lots were actually from aspiring resellers that gave up when they realized the time it takes to deal with breaking down lots and just gave up. Taking a quick profit to just get rid of it.
I have sold local on FB, and will look further into my options there. I appreciate the suggestion. As Marketplace is becoming ever so popular, even as a shipping option.
I am also realizing it may be time for change, some serious cleaning, and maybe even a curb alert 🙂
Thanks,
Mark
cd*playa
·1 year agoWHY DONT U PUT A ITEM UP FOR AUCTION AT A LOW LOW PRICE AND ACTUALLY SEE WHERE IT GOES FROM THERE AS U SAY UR DOING FIXED PRICED ITEMS MAYBE ITS YOUR ITEMS PEOPLE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN 🤷â€â™‚ï¸
m.goodson
OP1 year agoI want to again thank everyone for all the replies. Many of you have some great points.
I do understand I have a niche somewhat dying market with so many 1950's to 1990's parts. I have been pleased with what I have done over the years with these parts as extra income, but things seemed to have changed. As I have a 30% quantity/revenue drop from the previous year. Now I am just trying to figure out what to do with the remainder of a garage full of parts from previous dealership purchases, which seemingly have suddenly stalled/stopped selling.
I will try some of the recommended changes, as well as consider my options to expand my sales into other markets.
If I come to the conclusion that all I can do is break even with fees and shipping I guess I'll be headed to the land fill, lol.
I wish everyone a Happy New Year.
Thanks again,
Mark
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoYou're welcome @m.goodson. I think that a lot of us are in a very similar boat as you, but what you are selling is even more niche than what the rest of us are selling. I honestly do not think it is you or the items that you are selling, but the environment and current economic landscape that we are in right now. Like I mentioned earlier, we are down almost $300k from last year when looking at YOY numbers. When I do my December numbers next week, I will have a much clearer picture on where things are at. We keep adding new inventory on a daily basis, but only so much is moving and not like it used to be.
Try doing some promoted listings and especially using the offsite ads. They should help pull in some traffic and just be careful with how much you set your budget at since it is no guarantee that you will make sales. Also pricing your items competitively is key too, but the wild thing is that I can look up a door mirror that I want to list and people will have it listed from $50 w/$20-25 shipping to $150 with free shipping. This past year, pricing has turned into the wild wild west and has gotten worse.
Honestly if you can hang in there, I think after 2025 there will be a lot more people that will be exiting reselling. There are so many that do not pay taxes even with and without a 1099, that once this threshold for 2025 gets down to the $2500 and then in 2026 to the $600 where people need to report their sales/income, you will see a mass exodus. There are already people that make me shake my head on YouTube and even forums talking about how they don't pay the taxes. That is fine and everyone is entitled to do what they want to do, but the government may come knocking on the door, especially how crazy they have gotten the past few years. It sucks that we are paying taxes on top of taxes and don't agree with it, but what can we do.
I also have a secondary account selling comic books and other collectibles, and even customers are not buying like they used to. To add to this, each month we are setup as vendors at comic cons (1-2 per month) and we have noticed that foot traffic is down there too. People are not spending money like they used to especially on items that are not a necessity.
@cd*playa that is a good idea. The only issue with that with car parts is that you only have a certain amount of people looking for a specific part. With what m.goodson is selling, his parts are even more niche. than what I am selling. He may take even further losses because there won't be enough people bidding against each other at auction.
m.goodson
OP1 year agoThanks for the advice. Just knowing it isn't just me helps a lot! All the responses have helped with that. That maybe I just need to row a little harder, and be patient, lol. As I know our economy has suffered some hard hits, and these things don't recover fast.
I did try some Promoted Listings but it didn't seem to help much. I think I need to pick and choose my items for that. For as you mentioned, many of my items are waiting on that one guy with a 1965 F650 to need 4" wide brake shoes. It may take while to find that guy, hense it being in the store. Offsite seems to produce "offshore" and a lot of "why is the shipping so much?"questions. For as we all know shipping is terrible now, especially overseas.
I will keep @cd*playa auction suggestion in mind with more popular items for sure. As I am open to any POSITIVE suggestions anyone has to share, and sometimes auctions do spur dormant buyers to respond.
I do try to price against competing items, but sometimes I have the only one, and sometimes I am against a super seller who is happy with making a few dollars off an item as he has trailer loads of parts to liquidate. I often don't list a part if I am competing against that type seller on a part. Or if he has only one list it higher and wait until his is gone to make mine look appealing.
Thanks,
Mark
baantiques
·1 year agoIt's a constant thing to sort through boxes of parts. I buy large collections, sometimes as big as a semi load. And usually my purchase is a clean out, so the family if it's an estate or the seller just want it all gone. Sorting and deciding what to list, put in a box lot, or toss is a daily job. I figure 20% of the stuff is gravy, where I can list for $50 or more and sell quickly, 25% is garbage that goes right in the can, and the rest is in the 10-50 range and may sell quickly or may not. And I have to decide while it is in my hands what to do with each part, because if I set it somewhere it will sit there until I trip on it. I bought out a closed Ford dealer a few years back and along with everything came 3 pallets of vintage glass. We're talking Model T all the way up to the mid 50s. I ended up junking 2/3 of it because they either had no part numbers or I couldnt find the part numbers in any of my catalogs. So I had to decide. I don't like throwing away vintage parts but I can't keep dead inventory.
I take all that into consideration when I make a bid on a collection. There is so much of this kind of stuff out there that I have to purposely not search for it when I have enough to sell or I would drown.
m.goodson
OP1 year agoTrue, sorting is a vicious cycle, and I think I need to take some time off to do just that. As it can be very time consuming sometimes with all the smalls. But purging out the old, so you can find some new, always does act some excitement to the mix.
In bulk purchases there is always that junk percentage. I try not to get too excited about the good stuff, so I don't overlook the junk load I have t deal with on the backside. That one has bit me in the behind before, lol.
baantiques
·1 year agoI always sort through the junk, though, because sometimes I get surprised by something that will sell.
Sales are up 61% over the previous 7 day period, and they started going up 12/31. I've been following this year's sales slide and comparing to previous years, and my sales slid until I was down 3-5% over the same time period the previous year. It stayed there through the end of the year and my sales went up and down just enough to keep it in that range.
I made the comment to b of baantiques that that was not a coincidence, and Ebay did not want me to exceed the previous year's sales numbers, and that sales would go back up after the first of the year.
This is why we also sell elsewhere.
m.goodson
OP1 year agoYes, sorting can be fun especially when you find some hidden gems you didn't realize you had.
My sales have tanked recently. But some of if may be my fault, As I had veered off listing my NOS stuff, for higher priced open boxed items which are competing with too many similar items.
mrfindit
·1 year agoIt's really very simple. You either need to lower your prices or you are trying to sell things people don't want/look for elsewhere first.
I think you realize this already when you say you have car mirrors that should be $300 because that is a dealer price, but someone has them on E-Bay for $70. If you want to sell yours , then you need to list it at $65.
If this is just a temporary blip (one guy selling really cheap), it wouldn't have a sustained effect on your sales. Since you are seeing a sustained effect on your sales, it means a large amount of discounted OEM parts have hit the market. Match their price or watch your sales erode.
And there are good reasons for this. ALot of inventory got stuck in containers waiting to be unloaded. Stores over ordered, had shipments flown in to meet immediate needs at higher prices, etc. But eventually those containers did get unloaded, and they all became surplus inventory.
All that gets dumped to liquidators for pennies on the dollar, because that is cheaper than storing the overstock. Now some guy who buys liquidation has 100 of those $300 mirrors and he paid $10 each. So at $70, he is raking it in, but its still going to take awhile to sell 100 of them.
Or places like Amazon have gotten much better at selling car parts. It's all Chinese clone crap for the most part, but often someone with a 20 year old car that is worth $1500 just wants the cheapest thing they can throw on and get their car running again for a few months.
Newer cars is probably the only place where people are willing to pay more for OEM than Chinese aftermarket. And Amazon has turned into the 1st stop for Chinese aftermarket. People find something there for $20 before they ever make it to E-Bay to look.
But it's ALWAYS some combination of change in the market or pricing that usually results in a drop in revenue. If you can't compete with the pricing, then time to get out of the business.
chariot_badges
·1 year agoWrong. I don't play the "Race to the basement" game.
I want to be in the top three in terms of price.
It'll sell. It may take two months, but that's ok. I'll need to eat then too.
In fact, I may buy your undervalued part and resell it for 3x.
Done it before.
In fact, I actively look for them - they're out there.
selsa84
·1 year agoFalse false false. Especially when eBay weeds out many lower price listings when sorting by lowest first. Ye ole race to the bottom
karo192
·1 year agoYES OW YES I THINK IF YOU DON'T PRAMOTE IT THEY DON'T SHOW IT. THIS SHOULD BE THERE
LOGO. LOL NO REALLY . I HAVE NOT BEEN ON HERE VERY LONG BUT SALES HAVE WENT DOWN CONSIDERITLY. I HAVE BAKELITE BRACELETS MOSTLY AND I LOOK AT MY VEIWS AMD THERE IS NO
WAY I GET 3 OR 4 VEIWS THERE JUST NO WAY. NOT IN A MONTH. ON ONE ITEM IT SAYS 1 VEIW BUT 3 ARE WATCHING. NOW HOW CAN I HAVE 1 VEIW AND 3 WATCHING ?
I TRY TO PRAMOTE IT THEN THEY TAKE ALOT OF MONEY FROM ME. MAN YOU JUST CANT WIN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST, I WOULD LIKE TO GET A GANG OF US TOGETHER AND TALK ABOUT WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT THIS. ITS NOT FARE.
THANKS,
K.B.
inhawaii
·1 year agoI am going to share my secret for improving sales.
This method is GUARANTEED to work.
Sell better stuff, stuff that people will buy.
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoLook who it is, the thread derailer, always finds ways to come into threads and say the same thing over and over that brings no benefit to anyone. Woohooooo.
inhawaii
·1 year agoDo you disagree with my advice?
BTW I read your long reply to the op (which was selcted as best answer) and please correct me if I'm wromg, but nowhere in it to you offer the op any advice on how to improve sales
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoActually there is a difference between you and I. I am partaking in a civil conversation, and looking at all aspects that could be causing a problem to lack of sales in a category that I sell in and you do not, and you have no clue or ever will about the Motors category. As we all see in every single thread you come into that involves low sales, you always say it is "the items they sell" and the same old narrative. Then you taut the awesome sales you are having, selling low dollar items barely totaling a fraction of what some of these other people make in a day to your 1 month of sales. You are not helping people on this platform at all.
You have done this to so many people, that they even call you out on social media via other channels.
Good example of someone you tried to bully earlier in the year in another thread, @wilsonharborsales
inhawaii
·1 year agoI dare you to find one single post where I brag about the awesome sales I have. On the contrary, I often talk about having no or slow sales. What do I think ia the reason for my slow sales? The same exact same advice I gave the op, I need to sell better stuff, stuff that people will buy.
redlinear
·1 year ago@inhawaii sounds so simple, yet so complicated when it comes to used auto parts.
inhawaii
·1 year agoI understand.
People get mad at me for saying it, but I even apply that rule to myself when my own sales are slow.
krazzykats
·1 year agoThe original poster (OP) is a used auto parts seller and the conversation pertained to the decline in used auto parts sales. This discussion might have been more appropriate for the motor's boards.
Auto part sellers face unique issues. If a customer purchases the wrong part, it doesn't fit, or they damage and return it. Similar to clothing sellers' problems. Additionally, there are many backyard mechanics pulling parts and selling on eBay, leading to a flood of auto part resellers and driving down prices.
@blacktopautopartshad a lot of very good inciteful remarks that were correct and I think has a lot more experience with auto part selling than you and I.
inhawaii
·1 year agoI understand.
I just found it a bit ironic (and rude) that @blacktopautoparts lashed out at my advice when he gave absolutely no advice himself to the op who specifically asked "any suggestions what to do" for slow sales.
redlinear
·1 year agoNot the Motors Board. It still pertains to selling.
Besides, the only thing going on in the Motors Board is Tony telling everybody to file a case with their CC company and people wondering why eBay hasn't delivered their MarketPlace car they bought with gift cards.
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoI am glad that you apply this to your account, but it doesn't work for everyone else's accounts. You do a really good job of reiterating this even to others with experienced accounts and much larger amounts of inventory. Does that mean that everything they sell is not desirable, because that is the only answer you have for them? There are so many internal and external factors that add to the lack of sales.
As @krazzykats has mentioned, my intent was to provide incite and not an overview on how the original poster can fix their account. krazzykats has done a great job with how many customers are in the motors category and especially with the returns in general.
Sure I can tell someone to use promoted listings, and even if they are using them or not, we would need to know what type they are using and at what rates they are using. Are they filling out all of their item specifics for each item, including filling out part numbers, etc. How many pictures are they taking of an item and are they on white backgrounds. Title structures, etc. Are they listing new items every day, or every few days, and how many items are being listed each day? There is a lot here that you would need to know to help someone besides "Sell better stuff, stuff that people will buy" and the sarcastic comments and threads that you do create on these boards. We all see them and no, I am not going to go digging up threads or posts that you have created, you know what I am referring to.
I think I know the market and category I sell in very well than most that flyby through these forums and act like they know it all about how to sell. I've been at this for over 25 years in the reselling world.
sakic92710
·1 year agoThis kind of advice matches that of if you visit a doctor & tell him/her, "It hurts when I bend my arm this way." Dr. replies, "Then don't bend it that way." 😛
annadryl
·1 year agoOne thing I might suggest is offering free 30-day returns. Buyers would never even see your items if they click on that search filter. I have never had to do many returns.
krazzykats
·1 year agoThats a killer for used auto part sellers.
People return auto parts way more than other type of items.
redlinear
·1 year ago@m.goodson
@blacktopautoparts
I have two accounts.
Account 1) I bought 50 engines, 40 differentials, and warehouse full of loose parts. All good sellable inventory. But on that account sales are down and I'll lose money on it this year.
Account 2) Parting out entire vehicles. Working through our older undesirable stuff that's been here for-ever, just trying to get rid of it. This account sales are up from last year (due to quantity of listings), but I'll make money on this one this year.
I'll not buy loose parts ever again.
krazzykats
·1 year agoMy point is, there are so many people selling used auto parts, that's it's like everything else.
Clothing, jewelry, coins, collectibles. Lots of used auto part sellers. Lots of clothing, jewelry, coin and collectible sellers.
So many sites, so many items.
Supply and demand.
á“šá˜á—¢
redlinear
·1 year agoTrue, Massive increase in competition is for sure an issue for declining sales.
But, that's only a fraction of the reasons (it gets complicated)
I've discovered a few methods to combat this.
1) increase listings.
2) increase prices.
3) increase prices and promote.
4) stop promoting, and send decreased price offers (on the increased price items)
5) add user ID's
redlinear
·1 year ago@baantiques , @fbusoni , @yuzuha , @krazzykats
Had about 250 hundred instrument clusters on the shelf. Old inventory, taking up space. Needed some shelf space and almost threw them away.
Most of these have been here since mid 2000's. Basically a bunch of stuff that would not sell on eBay for $25 back then. And OMG we TRIED.
You know 90's Escort and similar. Nothing desirable, nothing trendy, nothing popular. Couldn't give this stuff away back then.
Listed ALL of them, again, here on eBay in 2022. With a different plan.
Price them stupid high ($80 to $250 each).
I think there's about 50 of them still here.
NO, I'm not going to part out a 90 Escort if you gave it to me. But I can assure y'all, a 90 Escort would part out very well for somebody that has nothing better to do.
I'd expect that Terrain shown above to part out for at least $10k.
Y'all wouldn't believe what's out there still being driven, still being kept running, still be loved by somebody.
BUT, it's not so much the money, it's "more" the time it takes to do it.
EVERY DAY, we open up eBay are amazed by, at least one item, that's sold the night before. Simply because of what the part was.
My neighbor freind listed what would best be described as a "barbie jeep" on FBMP for $20. But, it was a 12 volt off-brand that was broken.
We saw it on FB and began to send him dumb questions as a joke.
"Hey, I got $1.85 if you'll deliver it!"
"I'll come get it right now if you'll pay me $10"
He pulled up in my driveway that night and tossed it 15ft in the bed of my truck. Said take it, just stop sending me messages. (and we laughed and had a few beers).
I gave it to my helper, who took it apart and listed the pieces on eBay the next day. (simply to continue messing with my neighbor).
$400 later I went ahead and gave my neighbor $100
Most anything will sell. That little 12v kids toy wasn't worth it, but it did prove that point.
krazzykats
·1 year agoI wish I could part the car out, but neither space, desire or ability to do so. She has about 118,000 miles on it. Shock tower is bent, something punctured a transmission part underneath lost all trans fluid sitting still. When I got the whole story a pile of decorative rocks collapsed the axle on the driver's side. It's all bent up behind that wheel. Expensive fix, unless you can do it yourself. Good parts, good interior, and all the rest of it is still in good shape.
Simply not worth paying someone to do the work. I'm sure the insurance company will pay me out and take it away.
trickcomputer
·1 year agoeBay has built up so much customer badwill through terrible management and NEVER ACTUALLY ADDRESSING PAST AND PRESENT CRIMINALITY, it’s screwed in ways you and I cannot begin to imagine.
Just come to terms with the fact that this is a down escalator of a company that used to be awesome, but is just fossilized 9-5 lifers, going through the motions of PRETENDING TO RUN A COMPANY while undertaking SUPERFICIAL, COUNTERPRODUCTIVE and UNNECESSARY changes to their disgustingly broken platform.
This is going to get much worse. I’d imagine the meetings about meetings and dysfunctional internal emails at this e-commerce dirge are straight from Dilbert comics hell or Office Space.
It’s a good thing Booze Allen Hamilton isn’t run this badly huh?
Maybe they can find YET ANOTHER 50 million dollar Ferris Bueller type “leader†to pretend to run this filth corporate dirge. Meanwhile, those responsible for current issues are long gone with their tens of millions for the little time they spent EVEN understanding eBay operations.
ed8108
·1 year agoPerhaps too manny buyers have had unhappy internet purchase experiences
When time is not well spent , it can't be recovered.
krazzykats
·1 year agoI wonder if older cars aren't being repaired as frequently as they used to be. I am currently scrapping a 2012 Terrain that my son wrecked yesterday (yes, on Christmas). but how many people are actually going to fix up an old Terrain and salvage the parts from one?
Personally, I believe that people are not repairing older cars as much. So if someone does dismantle it, how many buyers will be even looking for used parts from it? I simply think there isn't the demand there used to be. Junk Yard prices have soared in recent years. And there are fewer mechanics and probably even fewer people willing to deal with the cost of labor & repairs, even used parts on 10+ year old vehicles. (I'm not talking about classic car years.)
There are few used car parts that fall outside my theory, but not too many. 1989-current. Throw away cars with less demand, so fewer used parts sales. JMHO.
(P.S. I won't be buying anymore Terrain parts.) 😶
fbusoni
·1 year ago@m.goodson
I looked at some of your listings... the clutch pressure plate for the 1983 Ford 6.9 liter diesel caught me eye. My first thought was, I wonder how many of those trucks are still running? (I owned an 86 Ford F250 with a 7.3 liter Navistar engine in it; it died in 2010.)
I know nothing about the state of the truck / auto market in the USA, but is it possible that demand for many of the specialty parts you are selling has declined at least in part because the cars and trucks for which those parts are intended may not (in the broadest sense) be running any longer?
If that is not the case, you could try ending listings that have been up for a while (and which have had no views or watchers) and re-starting them. I recently ended a few hundred of my own such listings.
I re-listed all of them over the course of a couple of weeks using "sell similar" and several dozen have sold in a fairly short amount of time.
If you're analysis of your listings leads you to conclude that they have stagnated in such a fashion, you may want to give "sell similar" a try. It costs nothing, and your listing is brand new and thus is primed to go to the top of the heap in a search queue.
yuzuha
·1 year agoThis would be my first thought. Parts for classic cars will always sell because a lot of people love to collect and restore them. Parts for more recent cars will sell because a lot of people would much rather do a quick, relatively inexpensive repair than purchase a brand new car.
But at a certain age of the car, it's just not worth keeping it around any longer when the cost for a part/to repair the car winds up being more than the value of the car itself. That's why I no longer own a car myself-- I used to have one, but when the catalytic converter died, it would have cost more to get it replaced than the car itself was worth, so I just junked it and then didn't get a new one because I live in the city and have no real need for a car. I suspect a whole lot of models of cars have just plain aged out to the point where no one owns/drives them anymore.
fbusoni
·1 year ago@yuzuha
Yeah, classic cars are in a category all their own.
I recall reading an analysis last year which concluded that post-COVID, many Americans are doing precisely what you did -- junking their older cars and just getting a replacement. Not sure why this trend has accelerated in the last few years, but there is doubtless some complicated perfect storm of consumer psychology at play -- in addition to sheer convenience.
eBay has a thousand shortcomings, and there is no question that eBay can wreak havoc with its algorithms and with the unpredictability of promoted listings. But sometimes there are exogenous variables at play that result in declining sales and which have nothing to do with eBay. I know that will come as a surprise to some. 😅
I've seen similar trends in books and LPs. Some books are highly desirable and will always be easy to sell -- limited run and privately published editions, for example, on subjects like the occult, UFOs, etc., not to mention first editions of the classics. I've not seen statistics, but I reckon that fewer people buy books these days if the book is in electronic form. As for LPs, I have several hundred that are brand new, never opened, yet there is absolutely no mass market for them. They were quite popular back in the 60s and 70s, but those who listened to them have passed on and their offspring are simply not interested. Can't say I blame them!
baantiques
·1 year agoDepending on the car, parts availability starts to decline between 5 and 20 years. My F150 is 11 years old but I can still buy everything I need from Ford and elsewhere, and I expect that to be the case for at least another 11 years if not longer. My Fiesta ST on the other hand, is 9 years old and its starting to get tough to find parts, especially body parts. It all has to do with the existing base of vehicles. Ford sells an F150 literally every 35 seconds. The ST was a specialty car and Ford sold maybe 6000 a year in the US. Ford sells that many F150s in two and a half DAYS. The ST is popular but there were so few made and they have a high attrition rate that I doubt there will be much in the way of aftermarket support as they age (beyond what crosses over from the regular Fiesta)
20 years is about where they start becoming classics. Some cars are earlier than that. Some cars never become classics. 1972 Galaxie parts? Might as well just throw them away. Ford G-Engine 226 flathead six parts (1941-1947)? Doorstops. Some cars have a cult following (1st gen Honda CRX/3rd gen Civic) which doesn't rise to the level required for the secondary market to supply parts. Some cars are so popular that you can build one from reproduction parts (Model T, 1970 Chevelle). Some popular cars will surprise you - I sell literally every single Pinto part I can get my hands on. Same thing with Fairlanes.
I sell Ford brochures going back to 1977. It's a good gauge of which cars are still popular and which aren't. Mustang, Bronco, pickups, big trucks (600 and up) sell the most, followed by Thunderbird, Crown Vic. Taurus, Escort, Tempo, Topaz all get tossed in the garbage because they won't sell.
Once those exceed their useful lives as transportation they disappear. When was the last time you saw and early 90s Escort?
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoI am glad that everyone has some really good and constructive feedback here with this thread, than the usual things we see in these kind of threads. I will not deny that the car parts market did probably get saturated the last few years with Covid. The worst part of this and I have spoke about this with others on here and other groups that focus on auto parts, there is a huge issue going on the last few months where you have sellers devaluing certain parts. I am finding OEM BMW and/or Mercedes-Benz door mirrors that cost $300-400+ marked at $50-70. When people do things like this, it is destroying this market and devaluing the cost of these items for example. Go to the dealer to find the same OEM mirror and you will pay upwards to $650-$1000 depending on the vehicle. I know because I hear this from customers all the time. If you sell used OEM parts, the luster is that people want to replace the broken part with an OEM over an aftermarket and at a cheaper price. This is one small part of the problem.
Within the last week between eBay and a few of the other platforms I am on, I did sell some parts from vehicles built in 2000. While many of us at times think those items are dead inventory, there is always someone out there that is still driving those vehicles. The problem is sitting on these type of items for a longtime taking up space and not making money not moving, where you can replace it with something newer that can make you money. In the past month we have gone through and pull about 1,000 parts off of eBay and other platforms that have not been selling and that we have large quantities of and stored them away for now. Once some of the other parts that are in inventory sell, we can reintroduce these ones.
Then we have the elephant in the room of a topic that @trickcomputer discussed in his post. eBay is not the company they once were. While they have made some good decisions to finally update the site the last few years, they have also done a whole lot to screw up this company. Not only have they caused distrust with buyers, but it is also with their sellers. They tried for too long to be like Amazon that they lost their identity and they should of just kept trying to innovate with the used reselling market.
@redlinear LOL at the 1990 Ford Escort. I still have some owners manuals for sale from a 1990 Escort and I am about to toss those out.
@krazzykats unfortunately with the Equinox and Terrain, they are so oversaturated on the interior and exterior parts, it is a real pain to sell. I have so many of the door mirrors, window switches, and sunvisors from this car it drives me nuts. I think the engine and transmission will net you good money for sure.
The biggest issue to add to all this now is the economy and inflation. As much as people want to gaslight others saying that there is nothing wrong with the economy and there is no inflation, there is. I live in an area where homes go for $500k plus and there are business in our thriving town closing. While some restaurants might be full, there are plenty more that are not. When you see people with shopping carts in tow, they are not full like they used to be even a year ago. People are just buying the necessities, as money is not going as far as it used to go.
We've seen more people driving around with duct taped up door mirrors and even card board/garbage bags to cover up the opening on the car windows since their window power motor has stopped working. If they can't afford the basics, people will wait to repair their cars or go buy that little trinket they were excited to buy.
There are so many other factors too that many have mentioned here which when you throw all of this together, it is one big mess.
tarotfindsandmore
·1 year agoFor folks opposed to PLs, keep in mind the cost of them can also be deducted from your taxes as part of your advertising/selling costs when it comes time to file. If you're doing well without promotions, then keep doing what you're doing. If you're struggling to make a sale, it may be in your best interest to give them a shot.
If you can't bring yourself to try out promotions, run a sale or create a coupon. Getting something for your items is always better than sitting there watching your shop decay while going weeks or months without a sale. Do what the big boys do, take the slight "loss" (you don't need to make 5x or 10x on everything you sell, it's okay to break even once in a while) in exchange for movement and visibility.
blacktopautoparts
·1 year agoThis past year has been something interesting with eBay Motors and selling car parts. I know speaking with several others that know many of the staff in the myfitment group, we've been told that Motors is down a good 10% on GMV. I don't even know if that number is 100% accurate either because many of us that sell used OEM auto parts are down a considerable amount this year. The first drop this year occurred in March, then July, and then October and I would say that both November and December have not been that great.
I have always used promoted listings general at suggested ad rates and higher and also have been using off site ads at a fairly high rate. Our sales have been abysmal. Today alone is a good example, a year ago we sold $750 in sales on Christmas day and today I think we are barely at $120 for the day. There is definitely something going on here that I can't even put my finger on.
We have about 9,900 listings and do list new items on a daily basis, we are top rated, free shipping, free returns, and no defects on the account. Yet here we are today at a huge downturn this year. I have spoke with many others that sell in motors and they are experiencing very similar issues.
I think that people are doing a disservice to themselves not using the promoted listings, but not even these are working like they used to so we can get them extra sales. At this point you need to do what you can to get the extra sales in.
The economy and people not spending like they were is adding to some of this. Then add in the switch to offsite ads being prominent along with eBays search algorithm on both the end user and the seller hub having some issues trying to find items.
BTW, there are many of us on the facebook groups discussing the same types of issues with motors across the board. Auto parts used to be such a huge category for eBay and things have taken a turn for the worse in this category. I have even had agents over at eBay tell me the same thing about how much Motors is down and they do not know as to why since they are not provided the full details.
There are several of us long time parts sellers experiencing these issues. Copying @zamo-zuan and @redlinear as a few that are experiencing the same and can chime in.
shado-x
·1 year agoHi everyone, and Happy Holidays.
I have been a seller on here 15+ years (mostly car parts with fixes price listings) and it enjoyed it over the years.
Run auctions at strategic points every week, and calculate the total as a whole, rather than if some don't sell so well.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoPromoted listings and other advertising is the preferred method of Internet marketplaces to deal with the issue created by more sellers than buyers for many, many items.
It generates revenue from losers as well as winners and offsets the costs of sellers who do not realize they cannot compete with and without PL.
The alternative would be devising a system to limit the number of sellers based on some methodology which would probably be wrong most of the time.
Selection would eliminate many of the bargains provided by amateur sellers, and increase the dependence on a limited number of high volume sellers. It would also harm the selection of items for sale because it would likely drive away many long tail sellers, who do not need to promote, but need to be free to list for long durations.
Many sellers choose to promote when it will not help, and by doing so drive up costs for sellers in the same category who would benefit. They also slow the inevitable exit from selling on Ebay and possibly anywhere online, without any monetary gain for those sellers.
chariot_badges
·1 year agoThey've DONE that.
I used to work for a real estate broker who had a couple of agents in the office that just were not cutting it. No or few sales. I asked him "Why do you keep them around?"
He said, "I don't need to fire them. I found that if I'm patient, they just get hungry and go away. You'll see them working at 7-11 or WalMart in a few months."
I can see that as ONE of the tactics that eBay uses to 'thin the herd".
That and the "permanent suspensions" especially for returns and "defects".
Half of that is **bleep**.
chariot_badges
·1 year agoI don't understand people's resistance to PL, or advertising in general.
To me, it's a cost of doing business ... and those costs are passed on to buyers. I don't pay them.
If I have to spend $1 for advertising, it costs my buyers at least $1.50
Same with S&H, taxes, ebay fees, direct overhead (insurance, utilities, rent, ect).
It all goes on the 'cost' of the item. Then I add a % mark-up (for meeeee.)
I am not going to 'absorb' those costs just to get a sale that doesn't make me any money.
The people who keep doing that are here, crying about not making money, and they won't be here in year ... making room for me.
Capitalism will clear all this.
It'll take a little time ... but, it always does.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@chariot_badges
Actually they come out of the Seller's profit and right off their bottom-line and to compensate for the PL or other advertising fees raising the List price or starting Auction price a percentage to offset those will only make a Seller's price look higher and they can easily lose sales from doing that.
baantiques
·1 year agoPassing the cost along is a myth. Advertising is an expense that comes off your bottom line. There are a lot of factors involved in pricing. I do a very careful and deliberate price analysis of each item I list and I'm already charging the most I can get for any given item. I can't pass on the additional cost of advertising because then no one would buy whatever it is because the price would too high.
Sometimes I can get a higher price than someone else selling something similar but usually because mine is better condition or I have better photos and description, or in much rarer instances because they are a regular customer.
chariot_badges
·1 year agoIt's a myth? So, when I add 10% to the list price to cover an ad campaign ... and it increases my profit margin by 18%, and decreases the sales by 4% that's not real?
The price MAY be too high, but that gives you data.
If you sell 100 widgets at $20 each with an ad budget of $1 each, and you sell 120 of them at $19 each with no ad cost ... is it worth it to spend the ad funds and tack it on the price? You're going to sell less, sure if you increase the price. But, what's wrong with working less, and making more?
It's all inventory specific. Those numbers above are fiction. I know my numbers, and I know for sure where the sweet spot is for Promotional and other exterior advertising methods FOR ME.
And, I'm always testing ... things are changing
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@baantiques
Bingo! Advertising for internet sales comes right off the bottom line and completely agree that raising prices to offset the ad fees could price one right out of the market. Fairly commonsense business 101 stuff really. I agree with you here for sure.
chariot_badges
·1 year agoI don't care if the expense comes out of the top of my pocket, or the bottom. FIFO?
A dollar increase in expenses results in a 1.5x increase in price.
Business 101 taught me not to work for free, and if I have to price product at a loss ... I'd rather not work. I'll just go fishing.
So, if what I sell does not support the sales ... AND ME, I'm outta here.
I don't need any more hobbies.
I keep my expenses as low as possible, I source correctly (I believe that you make your money when you buy), I provide the best service that I can and price fairly. If that's not good enough I'll buy a dozen minnows and six pack of beer and spend the day on the lake slaying bass.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@chariot_badges BINGO! This I agree with 150% and I research my potential inventory before I bid on it or buy it. About 90% of what I acquire I do so at a price that will give me the opportunity to hit my target margin. Teh other approximate 10% I will consider acquiring to resell at break even if it has the potential to drive traffic, meaning rare, unique or valuable. That latter case in point, once acquired an item for $ 750 out the door. I listed it for 3 months and due to it's size, weight and potential for damage listed local pick-up only. I had lot so f interest and many asked if iI would ship it ... errnt, nope. Sales in that category doubled and tripled during those 3 months, I then moved it at a local auction for $ 775, with fees there I lost a little money on that one piece BUT gained sales and profit on the extra sales I made ...
chariot_badges
·1 year agoNow THAT is thinking like an entrepreneur. A problem solver. Good job.
I walk away from, probably half of the inventory that I'd like to buy.
It's just priced too high ... for me.
Maybe not for YOU, but for me it's too much and I'll walk and let someone else have it.
When I buy here I don't try to compete with retail buyers. If someone wants to pay full on retail ... fine, I back away.
I have contacted sellers here that occasionally sell bulk items and explain to them what I'm looking for and what I'm willing to pay for it. I often get a message "I put a batch on ebay with you in mind" and a link.
I JUST got outbid on a gold plated hood ornament for an old Buick. It is pretty. It retails for about $30. I bid $10. I got one last month for that. This one ... I got outbid on. Will I increase my bet? Maybe. I'm going to keep checking till the river and see where it's going, and I may program a snipe because the auction ends at 4am. I will not go over $15.
mr_lincoln
·1 year agoHi @m.goodson
One thing eBay wants Sellers to do is pay for their own advertising both on and off their site. I used to use Promoted Listings until early 2022 when they launched Promoted Listings Advanced (where Sellers pre-pay ad fees for the top 4 spots in returned searches), changed the way Views are counted and magically doubled and tripled Promoted Listing Standard Ad rates. So for my categories they wanted a total fee intake of around 25% (FVFs + Ad Rates around 12%). That means unsustainable sales.
From that point forward my sales started a slow steady decline and have yet to recover. I abandoned Promoted listings at the end of 2023 (last year).
They also now offer Offsite Ads ... yep, more fees for Sellers to pay for promoting their own listings.
My last growth year was 2021 and since then I have dropped over $ 30,000.00 in sales over a 2 year period. This is not full time for me, just a cash stream I have been developing for retirement years. Now it is approaching a cash trickle ...
The fact that you are even entertaining discontinuing here points to someone with a good head on their shoulders and the extra time you would gain back might present other opportunities for you or provide more quality time in your personal life ... at the end of the day the decision is yours but I suspect you will choose wisely.
baantiques
·1 year agoThanks for bringing that up. The whole advertising thing is a scam to generate revenue, nothing more - a back door fee increase. I said when they first introduced PL that the first adopters were going to have an increase in sales for as long as they were the only ones. Once everyone caught on and started using it, the playing field would level back out again, only this time everyone would be paying the PL fee in addition to the regular fees. Then they upped the rate choices so that sellers could choose a higher rate. And again, those that picked a higher rate got more sales until, you guessed it, everyone was using a higher rate. Then dynamic ad rates came along and low and behold, somehow your items that sold did so at or near the highest selected rate. It's gotten so that very few of my items (usually less than 1/5) sell from the unpromoted version of each listing. It would be very easy for the search algorithm to be programmed to bury the non promoted listings. Not claiming that's the way it is, just that its a real possibility given that corporations are always greedy and Ebay has always seems to fall slightly on the shadier side.
Lather, rinse, repeat, until such time as you now having to pay per click just to keep up, which is going to cost way more and in many cases make certain listings unprofitable. I've never used pay per click on Ebay but we finally ditched it on Etsy because it made the entire store lose money. I work too hard at this to just hand over my profit like that.
It's one thing if putting all that money in advertising and promotion resulted in additional sales that would justify the expense, but the more I promote, the larger chunk of my profit gets handed to Ebay.
I have to wonder how much this factors in to what sellers are experiencing WRT the big drops in sales - eg they aren't using PL or pay per click either at all or not at the same rates as those who are, and their regular listings are getting buried.
I sort of liken it to streaming services. Used to be TV was free and in return they interrupted the shows with commercials. If you paid for HBO or Cinemax, you got everything ad free. Same with cable. Now, Sling and Paramount+ and others are subscription based AND you have to watch ads.
mr_lincoln
·1 year ago@baantiques
You are more than welcome ... glad to see I'm not alone with the facts from my own experience over many years of using PLS and what happens 1) when one does not use the higher "Suggested rates" and 2) one stops using PLS altogether after a slow steady decline in sales ... to the tune of over $ 30,000 over 2 years. That's not chump change.
batvette
·1 year agoFWIW I also sell used utems on offerup and craigslist and starting about 6 mos. ago traffic and contacts in general sermed to fall off a cliff. So its possible theres been an entire shift in peoples spending habits.
smilekc
·1 year agoI sell a decent amount of mostly used car parts on eBay, on this account & another, been at it 23+ years. I've had a very good year, probably up 10-15% of last year. Last 30 days I'm down 7%, but I stopped listing new stuff to give myself a break for the month of December. I've never had a bad month that wasn't related to me not listing new items. I don't specialize in one brand. I sell it all as I find it. I can't recommend NOS Fiat parts from the 70's though! But, a big box of those parts for $10, I did OK, just slowwwww to sell. I sell car related stuff too, like manuals, books, tools & the like. I sell other oddball stuff that isn't car related when I come across it.
If you're selling new car parts, you are competing against Rockauto. More & more that is where all my car guy friends go for parts, they never consider eBay. I was working on two 14 year old cars this summer. I never considered eBay for parts, Rock just has eBay beat, no comparison.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoSome of the vehicles you are selling parts for are less likely to still be in use than 6 months ago.
Many are no longer economical to keep running.
Part of your drop is normal vehicle retirement.
This forum as a significant number of auto parts sellers and I cannot think of one who has not had grumbles about sales, some worse than others.
Old and used, in all categories seems of less interest to many buyers. High shipping costs and changes in delivery times are having an impact on other buyers.
batvette
·1 year agoTo validate that theory you should be able to document a significant spike in new car sales and I dont believe thats been the case at all. While interest rates just came down a bit, 6 mos ago they were at all time highs. That combined with soaring new vehicle costs saw dealer inventories at the longest times in recent memory. New cars are languishing on dealer lots with some exceptions for unique new desirable models. So, with all due respect thats an interesting theory but not supported by the evidence in front of me. There are some wealthy people out there enjoying success but the masses generally are not in good financial shape right now due to inflation, high housing costs, apprehension over 2 major wars, and an unusual national election. From what Im seeing people are hanging on to cars for a long time now. Also note gasoline prices have been stable and low. Conditions that generally do not encourage people to turn to purchasing new vehicles for increased fuel economy.
m.goodson
OP1 year agoI want to thank everyone for their positive responses. As I have tried different things, including even newer/later model inventory, but nothing seemed to be working. It has been frustrating, as we know how much time selling can consume.
But I do feel better about things though now, have picked up some good suggestions, as well as other things to ponder.
Just hearing it isn't just me, helps a lot!! It has helped me realize that though things may never be as they were on here, I just need to ride the storm out, as well as broaden my horizons until I find what works for me.
I wish everyone Happy Holidays!
chariot_badges
·1 year agoIt’s true—things have been tough lately, and many of us are feeling the slowdown in sales. There are a lot of factors at play, some new and some familiar.
Back in August, national morale was at a low point. The uncertainty around the election had everyone uneasy, and the flood of fake and divisive news didn’t help. People were reluctant to spend, which only added to the challenges.
Fast forward to now: the dust has settled. We know who’s in charge, and while opinions vary, at least there’s some clarity about the next few years. People are starting to loosen their wallets—but their priorities have shifted. Experiences like travel and holiday celebrations are getting more attention than material goods, especially niche items like used auto parts.
Here’s the reality:
Remember:
Hang in there!
These cycles are part of the game of life, and staying focused now will help you be ready for the upswing.
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoAuto parts and motors seems like its own critter, plus it has been a focus category with ebay rolling out various changes like more fitment info, etc., that it's tough to say. You might want to search the forum for posts and threads specific to that category.
@bbcardzman - I think multi-channel selling is the future. I've never sold solely on here - I'd be kinda nervous if I did, like all the eggs in one basket 🧺.
fashunu4eeuh
·1 year ago@m.goodson wrote:
â€is...Is this a problem due to Ebay's new marketing campaign, or are my type items losing interest?â€
Hi and Happy Holidays.
I think i would be asking myself different questions, the first being
where do i stand with the competition? Are they doing something differently that is affecting my sales?
Are prices lining up with the competition in both item cost, shipping cost and transit duration, for example?
Since your listings show real quality of effort, that’s where my focus turns, to those external factors important to buyers.
(As conscientious a seller you appear to be, this is likely something you do regularly, but i mention it just in case.)